Protracted storms and heavy rain cause London to be flooded just as Woman goes into labour and is delivered of her newborn baby son Zeb. With incessant rain the flooding spreads to other low-lying areas of Britain, triggering a country-wide crisis with food supplies and accommodations for people displaced by the ecological disaster. Woman and her husband R are forced to flee with their baby to R’s parents. After R’s mother G is trampled to death at a food distribution facility, R’s father N commits suicide, leaving R badly traumatised.
Woman and R decide to go to a local shelter, but R gets separated from Woman and their son. When the shelter comes under attack by the looters, Woman and Zeb flee northwards to go to a commune on a remote island off the coast of England, but Woman finds the desire of the commune’s residents to be shielded from the rest of the world too stifling and difficult to accept. They return to their ruined house in London, where soon afterwards they are reunited with R.